History Manga / SakamichiNoApollon

* RealPlaceBackground: Even though the show takes place in the 60s, many current Sasebo locales can be still be recognized, most notably the Miuracho Catholic Church.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: This could have been an interesting story about young jazz musicians trying to find a way to chase their musical aspirations in an era where jazz was pretty much an underground scene in Japan. Alas, that premise gets buried under massive layers of romantic subplots, with the music turning more and more into a secondary issue, if ''that''.

The series won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga and has been adapted to an anime for the Spring2012Anime season, airing on the {{noitaminA}} block. The anime adaptation is notable for being directed by ShinichiroWatanabe and music composed by the acclaimed YokoKanno.

* [[spoiler: BabiesEverAfter: Junichi and Yurika have twins and Ritsuko is pregnant with Kaoru's child.]]

* CallBack When Kaoru leaves his mother, he leaves her with a jazz record to memorize so that they could perform it together when they met again. In one of the last few chapters, she started singing the song. She also mentioned before that she couldn't read or write, and one of her customers had been teaching her. Ritsuko, who had been revealed to be a former piano player, plays it while Sentarou's brother plays the drums.

* CryIntoChest: [[spoiler: Sentarou cries into Kaoru's chest when they meet at the hospital after the motorbike accident,]] so they do not have to see each other cry.

* [[spoiler: FastForwardToReunion: The anime skips over eight years to show Ritsuko, Sentarou, and Kaoru reuniting.]] The manga is a bit different in that [[spoiler: it actually shows Kaoru in college and him visiting his mother regularly, as she lives close by, and meeting up again with Junichi. Kaoru and Ritsuko.]]

* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Despite the fact that the manga is 50 volumes long.

* BakersDozen: There are 5 "bonus tracks" at the end, to make 50 total chapters.

Summer, 1966. Kaoru Nishimi (''Ryouhei Kimura'') constantly moves from town to town and school to school due to his father's job. Because of his [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation intelligence]], his wealthy background, and his nausea problems, Kaoru has been alienated by his classmates and is subsequently seen as an outcast. When Kaoru [[NewTransferStudent transfers]] to yet another school, this time in Kyushu, he expects the same things to happen as they always do. However, this time his luck begins to change as he meets seeming {{delinquent}} Sentarou Kawabuki (''Yoshimasa Hosoya'') and pretty class president Ritsuko Mukae (''YuukaNanri''), and the [[ThreeAmigos trio]] begin bonding over {{jazz}} music.

* [[spoiler: DoorstopBaby: Sentarou. His "uncle" lies and says that Sentarou is the child of his sister and an American soldier so that he can remain in the family.]]

* [[spoiler: FastForwardToReunion: The anime skips over eight years to show Ritsuko, Sentarou, and Kaoru reuniting.]] The manga is a bit different in that [[spoiler: it actually shows Kaoru in college and him visiting his mother regularly, as she lives close by, and meeting up again with Junichi. Kaoru and ]]

* ShoutOut: Sentarou's bird is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Vaughan Sarah Vaughan]]. Yurika named her cat Chet, after Chet Baker, after finding out [[spoiler: Jun]] is a fan of his music.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: the series becomes even more interesting if you know a bit of {{Jazz}} history, as a few of the characters are most likely inspired by famous musicians.

* LoveHurts: [[spoiler: Any of the main romances in the Love Dodecahedron mentioned above can qualify as this, though chief among them must go to Sentarou's feelings towards Yurika.]]

* TwelveEpisodeAnime

* LoveHurts: [[Spoiler: Any of the main romances in the Love Dodecahedron mentioned above can qualify as this, though chief among them must go to Sentarou's feelings towards Yurika.]]

* LoveHurts

* MissingMom:

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Sentarou loves watermelon.

* MeaningfulEcho: Kaoru is the one that tells Sentarou that since he loves children so much, he will be "surrounded by children" (as in having a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings large family). He remembers this at the end when [[spoiler: he is surrounded by the children of the church where he is a priest in training.]]

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Karou slaps Sentarou after he refuses to see Junichi before he leaves for good.
* BeachEpisode: Chapter 5/Episode 2.

* CryIntoChest: [[spoiler: Sentarou cries into Kaoru's chest when they meet at the hospital after the motorbike accident.]]
* [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You]]: The anime doesn't explain, but the manga reveals that Karou's mother didn't want to leave him. Karou's father's family treated his mother horribly because she was poor, while they were rich, while the dad just told her to suck it up. Since Karou's father was always away on business, their relationship suffered and she tried to leave with Karou. She realized she couldn't take him, since she thought she couldn't offer him a good life, and let the father's family take him.

* {{Delinquent}}: Sentarou comes off as this and doesn't really help his case when he ends up in fights.

* [[spoiler: FastForwardToReunion: The anime skips over eight years to show Ritsuko, Sentarou, and Kaoru reuniting.]]

* FreudianExcuse: When Kaoru throws a massive fit at the beach, after finding out Sentarou was going to work with Seiji's band. At first it seems unnecessary and immature, and Kaoru admits that, but then we are shown flashbacks of his childhood with other kids saying they want to spend less time together for a while, and end up not being friends with him anymore. He thinks Sentarou is doing the same thing, and Karou tries to end the friendship before he gets hurt.

** By the end of the first volume, Kaoru, who has feelings for Ritsuko, questions the nature of Sentarou's and Ritsuko's childhood friendship and suspects that there might be something between them or that one might like the other. He eventually comes to the conclusion that he just was over-thinking things [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope until it's made apparent that Ritsuko does have feelings for Sentarou]].]]
** [[spoiler:Ritsuko comes to the conclusion that Kaoru's fall out with Sentarou was because Kaoru has feelings for Yurika too (as it is mistakenly believed that Kaoru was the one who invited Yurika to their group outing and Kaoru's fight with Sentarou concerned Yurika's handkerchief). In reality, Kaoru was provoked by Sentarou's happiness over receiving Yurika's handkerchief because Sentarou is blissfully unaware that his crush on Yurika is secretly causing Ritsuko (who has a crush on Sentarou) pain.]]

** When we last see him, Junichi is considering cutting his hair, which had gotten longer.

** Yurika and Junichi, when he takes a cigarette from he mouth and starts smoking it.
* InSeriesNickname: Ritsuko is referred to as Ricchan and Rikko by Karou and Sentarou, respectively.
** Sentarou calls Karou Bon, who calls him Sen.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Karou who keeps trying to push Ritsuko and Sentarou together. Sentarou sees that there is something between them and tries to push Karou and Ritsuko together.]]
* JapaneseChristian: Sentarou and Ritsuko, to Kaoru's surprise.

* MeaningfulName: In the anime, Yurika qualifies for this trope [[spoiler:because her name phonetically sounds like "Eureka!", and she is the reason Kaoru, Sentaro, and Ritsuko ''find'' eachother in the end.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Kaoru's attempt to help Sentarou get closer to Yurika results in [[spoiler:a heartbroken Ritsuko, who has a crush on Sentarou.]]
* NotWhatItLooksLike: [[spoiler:Kaoru walks in on what appears to be an intimate moment between Yurika and a mostly naked Sentarou in the art room. He assumes that they are going to have sex and runs off. When Kaoru questions about it later, Sentarou reveals that he was just modeling for Yurika's oil painting.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Kaoru's father is usually away because of his job on a ship, and Kaoru's mother left him at a young age.

** TechnicianVersusPerformer: Kaoru starts off with classical piano training but Sentarou slates his rendition of "Moanin'" as lacking "swing."

* RuleOfSymbolism: In the manga when Seiji sees Yurika's painting of Sentarou he interprets it as being symbolic of Apollo, who is crying over his unrequited love for Daphne. InUniverse, it [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic wasn't meant to be symbolic]] as Yurika had accidentally dropped paint near the eye so that it looked like a tear, although it did happen when Karou told her [[spoiler: Jun]] may have been staying over at a girl's house, so it's something akin to a FreudianSlip. It does, however, symbolize Sentarou's unrequited love.

* ShipperOnDeck: Several girls in Kaoru and Ritsuko's second year class try to push them toward each other.t
* ShoutOut: Sentarou's bird is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Vaughan Sarah Vaughan]].

* TallDarkAndBishoujo: Yurika.

* ShipperOnDeck: Several girls in Kaoru and Ritsuko's second year class try to push them toward each other.

''Sakamichi no Apollon''[[note]]literally ''Apollo on the Slope'', although officially subtitled ''Kids on the Slope''[[/note]] is a {{manga}} series by Yuki Kodama.

''Sakamichi no Apollon''[[note]]literally ''Apollo on the Slope'', although officially subtitled ''Kids on the Slope'']] is a {{manga}} series by Yuki Kodama.

''Sakamichi no Apollon''[[hottip:*:literally "Apollo on the Slope", although officially subtitled "Kids on the Slope"]] is a {{manga}} series by Yuki Kodama.